Autism May Be Connected To Increased Rainfall

The increase in precipitation, or something related to it, may be linked to the development of autism, according to research in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine quoted by the media Tuesday.
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The increase in precipitation, or something related to it, may be linked to the development of autism, according to research in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine quoted by the media Tuesday.

Rain autism theory is based on the child's health and the weather records from three U.S. states, but was greeted with caution by a UK research charity.

The researchers calculated the average annual precipitation for California, Oregon and Washington between 1987 and 1999, then studied the prevalence rate in autism among children increased during this period.

The study found that autism rates were higher among children whose states experienced higher precipitation in the first three years.

The increased rate of autism - up by some measures, one in 2500 to one in 150, was mainly attributable to improvements in the way doctors are able to recognize the disease, some researchers aruged.

However, researchers from Cornell University disagreed, saying this should not exclude a factor that May be independently increased the number of children growing up with the state.

They found that the rate could be related to the amount of precipitation in the state between those two dates.

They said: "Autism prevalence was higher among birth cohorts that have experienced relatively heavy rainfall when they were younger than three years."

They also clear that none of them was more of a theory, and called for further research to see if the link is real.